The Mentor
by wintergreen825
Summary: When being forced to compete in an adults-only ends up having Harry magically declared an adult, it reveals a lot of things that had been being kept from Harry. Luckily, Harry had been assigned an official mentor to get him up to speed.


**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

**Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

**Author's Note:** Here. Have some Scandinavian Claudia Zabini, so that you can enjoy her just as much as I do. By the way, "nej" means "no" in Swedish.

**Submitting Info:**  
**Stacked with:** Hogwarts (Term 11); MC4A  
**Individual Challenges:** Gryffindor MC; Durmstrang MC; Sett to Destroy; Golden Times; Short Jog; Old Shoes; Yellow Ribbon (Y); Yellow Ribbon Redux  
**House:** Hufflepuff  
**Assignment No.:** Term 11 – Assignment 02  
**Subject (Task No.):** Game Development (Task#8: Write about a mentor.)  
**Other Hogwarts Challenges:** Insane House Challenge [853] (Mentor); 365 [01] (Treasure); Galleon (Robert Frost quote)  
**Space Address (Prompt): **n/a**  
Representation(s):** Harry Potter & Claudia Zabini; Mentorship; Autistic Harry Potter  
**Bonus Challenges: **Abandoned Ship; Surprise!; Most Human Bean; Second Verse (Lovely Coconuts; Unwanted Advice; Nontraditional; Found Family; White Dress; Persistence Still; Not a Lamp; Ladylike); Chorus (Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Unicorn; Creature Feature; Wind Beneath)  
**Tertiary Bonus Challenges:** T3 (Toad); SN (Rail; Intercept); FR (Evolution); O3 (Oath)  
**Word Count:** 1298

(^^)  
**The Mentor**  
(^^)

Harry hadn't expected the letter he had received within hours of the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The rest of the school term had been a whirlwind of activity after that point. It seemed like every time Harry turned around, he was learning something new about the world he had entered at age eleven. Some of it—actually most of it, if he was honest—he wasn't surprised to learn.

After the year before last, when Fudge had been ready to execute Sirius even after being told that he was innocent (while Dumbledore, head of the judiciary body for the United Kingdom as well as the head of a international political system, said that his hands were tied), Harry was not surprised to learn that the Ministry of Magic was just as ineffectual as any other ministry in the government. Learning that the wizarding world had peerage just like their Muggle counterparts wasn't exactly a jaw-dropping revelation.

Learning that he was one of them, however, had been. Learning that as a newly affirmed adult, he was expected to take over his investiture immediately had been even worst. He had no frame of reference for how nobility was expected to do whatever it was that they did for the wizarding world. They were mostly the diplomatic corps on the Muggle side of things, from Harry's understanding, when they weren't relegated to minor local events such as ribbon-cuttings and whatnot.

Luckily, the goblins (as they were in charge of the Peverell investiture due to some paperwork gridlock on his parents' will) had assigned Countess Claudia Zabini to be his mentor for all the things that he needed to learn to fulfill his duties as Duke of Peverell. Harry had been understandingly uneasy about accepting advice from a stranger, let alone one with a last name that Harry only knew from the Slytherin boy in his own year. Harry did not have the greatest track record with adults in general, but one that everything he knew told him was predisposed to dislike him? That just sounded like a recipe for disaster.

Most of the adults in Harry's life had been quick to point out how untrustworthy Claudia was sure to be, too, which didn't help ease his nerves any. Each had a different reason. Claudia had buried more spouses that most people ever dated seriously. What kind of influence would she be on an impressionable young boy? Claudia's son Blaise was a Slytherin, and she herself had gone to Durmstrang. So, he shouldn't let himself be taken in by anything she told him, no matter what it was.

After meeting the woman for the first time, Harry had his own theories as to why Dumbledore and anyone considered close to the headmaster wouldn't like her.

After all, Claudia Zabini made no secret that she did not like or admire Albus Dumbledore in any way. That stance and opinion did not improve any after they had the report from the healer that Claudia had insisted Harry see after taking one look at him. Then Claudia had met the Dursleys. (Harry would treasure the memory of Aunt Petunia's obvious conflict between hosting a countess and having that countess be a witch until the day he died.) No matter how much Dumbledore insisted that Harry was perfectly safe with the family of his mother's sister and that he had to stay there, Claudia refused to budge on her stance that Privet Drive was in absolutely no way safe for Harry and that he should never be made to return.

By the time that the Yule Ball had been announced, Harry's life had so completely changed that being required to find a date so that he could assist in opening the dancing, despite not being an expected champion, was insignificant. After all, he was stacking etiquette and elocution lessons on top of his normal lessons while also being tutored in magical history and law (both British and international) every evening. What was dancing when his head was sure to explode from all the information being crammed into it. As had become his custom when something he didn't anticipate came up, Harry took the question to Claudia when he saw her that evening for his etiquette lesson.

"I am not surprise they are having you open," Claudia said as she corrected the slump in his posture with a firm but gentle press of her palm between his shoulders. "You are their hero, their celebrity. I'm sure that the Diggory boy is a very strong champion but compared to the daughter of two ambassadors and the son of the Lioness of Bulgaria, he is a nobody. Honestly, they probably would have insisted even if you had not been made a champion in their gladiatorial match." She hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe not. That would have shown far too much of their hand, I think. What do you need right now to prepare?"

"I just don't know who to ask," Harry answered immediately. "It was going to be hard enough, because of all the girls who started following me and giggling since my name came out of that cup, but...I don't know. I'm aware enough from our lessons to know that who I pick will have implications, but I don't think I know enough yet to be able to pick on my own."

"I see," she said, and the funny thing was that Harry honestly believed her. Feeling like someone actually understood exactly what he was saying instead of putting their own interpretation on it was a bit of a novelty for him. "I may have a solution for you. I know you have not been introduced, but my son Blaise is friends with two young ladies who will be in need of escort to this ball. One of them is of suitable rank to attend with you without anyone of note being upset by it."

"She sounds lovely," Harry drawled, more than just a bit sarcastic. "Does she have a wonderful personality?"

Claudia huffed and poked his side, right in the spot she had learned during a robe fitting was ticklish, as a rebuke for the implied insult. Harry flinched away even as he tried not to smile. For all that Claudia was a stern taskmaster, she was head and shoulders above any other adult in Harry's life when it came to making sure that Harry knew when a punishment was more a tease than something meant to hurt or humiliate him. She took her mentor duties seriously, even if sometimes Harry could see how she must be as a mother.

"There is a catch," she cautioned, letting the comment stand without denial. "Like my Blaise, Daphne Greengrass is a Slytherin. I'm told that the rivalry is something of a legend between your two Houses."

"She's not like Malfoy, is she?" Harry asked hesitantly. He didn't think he could stand to spend an evening with someone as stuck up as Draco Malfoy, no matter how well recommended they had come.

"_Nej_," Claudia denied immediately. "My Blaise knows better than to take such bigotry into his company. I would pull him from the school before I let such foolishness sink into his heart."

"Then I don't see the problem with it," Harry said, even though he knew that Ron was likely to yell at him again. But then again, Ron had not been pleased with any of this situation so far. What was one more thing at this point? There was something that needed to be addressed, however. "Er, how am I supposed to ask her? Is there a special way?"

"You just leave that to me," Claudia assured him. "My Blaise will take good care of you."

Harry was very lucky to have a mentor like Claudia Zabini.


End file.
